The leading candidate for Big Apple comptroller says he will reinvest millions of dollars of city pension funds into Israeli bonds — after current Comptroller Brad Lander divested from them.
When Lander took office in 2022, the pension funds of city government workers and retirees that he oversees had $39.9 million of assets in Israeli bonds.
When the bonds matured, Lander did not reinvest in them, in effect divesting the pension funds from bonds that New York City had invested in since the 1970s.
A campaign rep for Levine — Manhattan’s borough president and the Democratic nominee for comptroller and thus likely next comptroller — said his boss will invest in Israel government bonds again if elected.
“We have a globally diversified portfolio, and that should include investments in Israel and Israel Bonds, which have paid solid dividends for 75 years,” Levine had said during the June comptroller primary-race debate with rival and Brooklyn Councilman, Justin Brannan.
“We are now the only pension fund in America without that investment,” Levine said at the time. “I think prudent management for global diversity should include investment in those assets.”
Lander was criticized during his mayoral campaign for divesting from Israeli bonds.
Foes have noted that he and Israel-bashing socialist buddy Zohran Mamdani cross-endorsed each other in the city’s Democratic primary in June — a move that is credited with helping propel the far-left Mamdani well in front of the pack to clinch the party’s nomination.
Lander recently spelled out his divestment decision in a response letter to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who had ripped the divesting.
Lander had accused prior comptrollers of investing pension funds from unionized workers in Israeli bonds for political reasons, not for prudent returns.
The Big Apple first invested $30 million in State of Israel Bonds in 1974 under former city Comptroller Harrison Goldin through its pension funds for educators.
“The decision to invest only in Israel bonds, when the funds held no other country’s bonds,
and to invest assets intended for short-term cash management in longer-term bond instruments, was a political decision, not a fiduciary one,” Lander said in his July 13 letter.
“The City’s pension fund holdings of Israel bonds amounted to $39,947,160 at the time I took office in January 2022. In January 2023, those bonds matured, and our office was faced with the choice of whether or not to purchase new ones. We consulted our guidelines and made the prudent decision to follow them, and therefore not to continue investing in the sovereign debt of just one country.”
Lander, who is Jewish and a self-described Zionist, added, “To summarize: We treat investments in Israel as we treat investments in any other country. No better, and no worse.
“The [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] Movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries; I oppose this effort. You appear to be asking that the City’s pension funds treat Israel better than all other countries. That would also be politically motivated, and inconsistent with fiduciary duty.”
He then accused Mayor Eric Adams of using the city’s divestment of Israeli bonds as a “cynical ploy” in his desperate re-election campaign.
But Lander’s predecessor as comptroller, Scott Stringer, said Lander was out of line for claiming that Israeli bonds are not a worthy investment.
“Brad got busted for BDS’ing the pension system. He got caught, and now he has to own up to it,” Stringer told The Post.
Stringer said he was infuriated with Lander for claiming Stringer and other prior comptrollers invested in Israeli bonds for political, not sound financial, reasons.
He said Israeli bonds had always been a sound investment and told Lander to “f–k off.
“If you get busted, you can’t be trusted,” Stringer said.
Israeli bonds are considered a solid investment, accumulating about 5% returns on average a year, records show.
The New York state pension system, run by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, has more than $360 million invested in the Jewish state.
